h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Was it George Carlin?

No it was Carlin Ale probably

The online etomology dictionary says guesstimate was coined in 1934.

I can just see the head of the company asking their statistician
How well is our ale selling and the statistician replies
we have about 75% market share , but that is only a guesstimate.
Actually he had no idea how it was selling and just wanted to make the boss happy.

It's nice that a boss can be happy now and then, but bosses aren't paid to be happy. They're paid to suffer. The suffering will come about after the *real* figures come in.

Was the BP boss paid millions in bonuses and pension credits to make him happy for wrecking your coastline.

probably but now I hear he is losing his job and BP is getting a new CEO

they are sending him to siberia i believe

if it was me i would retire with all the millions and buy me a brand new sofa

I don't think they are sending him to Siberia, and there is getting the sack and getting the sack.

For instance on a unique occasion I phoned in sick cos I couldn't see, was blind, four hours before start time, was told to phone back If I was still sick earlier to start time, two hours before I phoned sick cos I couldn't see and Richard the rich said your sacked. No pay not even for the work I did.

Hard to convince a lot of people that actually that is the kind of reward you get for working hard and doing the right thing. But if your one of the chosen few, ya get millions for wrecking everything.

And they are thick yes they are.

I hadn't heard that the job was in Siberia
but I did find this
(RTTNews) - British oil giant BP Plc (BP: News ,BP.L: News ) Chief Executive Tony Hayward will step down from his post in October and be reassigned to the company's joint venture in Russia, according to media reports, citing unidentified official close to the matter.

Reports stated that Hayward has been lined up to take an unspecified job at TNK-BP, which is the joint venture in Russia. BP believes nominating Hayward as one of its three directors on the TNK-BP board will not anger politicians in the US, reports added.
I wonder if they had to give him a years severance pay to get him to agree to this?

siberia - russia

-

You can work for the good of mankind, hours upon hours of work every hour of every day, and get killed stabbed bludgeoned shot blasted murdered for it.

Or you can destroy the world and get a trillion dollar house with constant warm heating and tropical swimming pools, in Siberia.

I know where I went wrong.

relax, siberia isn't all that cool

er, i mean, well, yes it is - but not in a cool way

wait, that didn't come out right either

ach, just forget it

Here Captain have a
Has this ship ever been to Siberia?
All I really know about the place is that it is on the other side of the Bering straits from Alaska and has people that Moscow wanted to get rid of.

"You can work for the good of mankind, hours upon hours of work every hour of every day, and get killed stabbed bludgeoned shot blasted murdered for it."

Alas, that is true, You've been treated very badly.

"Or you can destroy the world and get a trillion dollar house with constant warm heating and tropical swimming pools, in Siberia."

That may be possible, but as far as I know the world's most valuable house is not even worth a billion dollars, let alone a trillion. And, if such a house existed, why would anyone go to the trouble of situating it in Siberia, where there are large cities that get wintertime temepratures as low as minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Why not put such a gem of a house where the occupant(s) could enjoy ordering takeout food, or get to a movie or show without a 20-hour ride on the train? Just wondering...

At leaast we can just turn the central heating up and not have to worry about gas supplies from Siberia.
Beats working down the salt mine

it is not hard for me to believe that a vast palace with constant warm heating and tropical swimming pools would cost a trillion dollars to build in Siberia

maybe not US dollars, but still

you would probably have to build it in an insanely large man made grotto way below the surface of the earth

and the elves live quite comfortably at the North Pole

"it is not hard for me to believe that a vast palace with constant warm heating and tropical swimming pools would cost a trillion dollars to build in Siberia" [Pierce the very sensible pirate]

Yes, Pierce, *if* such a house were built, it might well have to cost as much as a trillion dollars. I don't know how far down the permafrost extends in Siberia, but I'm guessing it's pretty deep. Excavating through that level would cost a pretty penny, even in summer.